If you thought Companies House was just about sleepy annual filings and the odd company search, think again. They’re shaking things up in a big way, and this time it affects you – yes, every director and every person with significant control (PSC).

From 18 November 2025, each director and PSC must have their identity verified and be issued with a unique personal ID code (or as we like to call it, your “magic number”).

A bit like the company authentication code you’ve already got, but this one’s personal – it belongs to you as a person, not the company. And the good news? Once you’ve got it, you keep it for life. One magic number, forever.

Why is this happening?

Because Companies House wants to make sure that the people listed as directors and PSCs are real, verified individuals. No more hiding behind smoke and mirrors.

What does it mean for you?

Here’s the short version:

• You won’t be able to file a confirmation statement after 18 November without including every director’s ID code.
• PSCs need one too (if you’re both a director and PSC, it’s the same code – no double trouble).
• Without the code, your company could get stuck and face penalties because filings can’t be made.

What you need to do:

1. Head over to the Companies House website.
2. Verify your ID (passport or driving licence + a quick selfie video).
3. Get your personal 11-character code.
4. Send it to us, just like you would with your company auth code.

Deadline alert:

We need all director and PSC codes in our hands by 18 November 2025. Please don’t leave it until the week before – if the system glitches or your passport’s out of date, it’ll be a nightmare.

Think of it this way: this is like renewing your driving licence. You don’t think about it until the expiry date looms, and then suddenly you’re grounded. We don’t want your company filings grounded – so let’s get it sorted now.

We’ll be chasing for your codes soon, but if you’re super organised, why not beat the rush and send yours over once you’ve got it?

What about new companies?

If you’re planning to set up a brand-new company after 18 November, the rules bite straight away.

• Every director must be verified and have their personal ID code before the company can even be registered.
• If someone is also a PSC, the same rule applies.
• No codes = no incorporation.

In other words, if you’re appointing directors for a shiny new company, they’ll need to sort their ID verification first. So if you’ve got plans to incorporate, let’s get those “magic numbers” sorted early to avoid any hold-ups.

Did you know? One code covers all your companies

If you’re a director (or PSC) of more than one company, don’t panic – you only need to do the ID check once. Companies House gives you a single personal code that you’ll use for every directorship and PSC role you hold.

That means if you’re a director of three companies (and a PSC in two of them), you still only get one “magic number”. Just make sure you give us that code for each company we look after for you, so we can keep everything compliant.

As we continue our series on planning for life’s “what ifs”, there’s one family member we couldn’t possibly overlook — the one who never answers back, always listens, and greets you like a celebrity every time you walk through the door.

Your pet.

For many of us, pets are more than companions. They’re part of the family — loyal, loving, and constant. Yet when it comes to wills and future planning, they’re often forgotten. It’s easy to assume that someone will “just take them,” but the reality is rarely that simple.

Could your 90-year-old Aunt Mabel really take on a lively border collie that never stops running?
Would your sister be able (or willing) to fund the endless appetite of a Labrador who never says no to seconds?

And what happens if circumstances change — a hospital stay, a family breakup, or a house move that turns life upside down?

These are the moments when good intentions meet real-world complications.

That’s why we were pleased to discover PetPact, a thoughtful initiative from local firm Roche Legal. It’s designed to help pet owners make clear, legally-informed arrangements for their animals — ensuring their welfare and your peace of mind.

A PetPact provides:
• A legally informed, personalised Letter of Wishes for pet care
• Guidance for both emergency and long-term care situations
• Peace of mind that your pet’s future is properly planned
• And, as a lovely touch, a £5 donation to UK animal charities with every PetPact

You can find out more about it here: Roche Legal – PetPact

Why This Matters

Under UK law, pets are treated as personal property. That means they can’t directly inherit money — but you can leave instructions about who should care for them, and you can set aside funds for their upkeep. This can be done in your will itself or, more flexibly, through a Letter of Wishes such as the one created under a PetPact.

Making these arrangements now avoids confusion later, helps prevent disagreements between relatives, and ensures that your pet isn’t left without a clear home or plan. It’s one of those small steps that can make a huge difference — both to the animal and to those who love it.

Ask any couple whose money it is, and you’ll probably get three answers:

1. “Ours.”
2. “Mine.”
3. “Whichever account has the better online banking app this week.”

For day-to-day life, that works fine. But when it comes to Inheritance Tax, HMRC is far less romantic — they like things labelled neatly as “his” or “hers.”

Whose account does the gift come from?

For IHT purposes, the name on the account or investment matters. If it’s in Mr’s name, then the gift is his — even if he only got the money there because Mrs let him “borrow” it. A joint account is usually treated as 50/50, unless you can show otherwise.

Why does this matter?

Because gifts eat into your £325,000 nil-rate band, and HMRC want to know who’s been doing the giving. In practice, they don’t mind if one spouse transfers from “the easy-to-log-into account,” so long as you keep your records straight and consistent.

What about gifts out of surplus income?

Here’s where the rules tighten up. The exemption for “normal expenditure out of income” only works if the gifts come from the income of the person making them. HMRC aren’t interested in the theory of joint money — they want to see whose payslip (or pension statement) the money came from.

A simple example

Mr earns £70,000 a year. Mrs earns £10,000. Together they give their children £10,000 every Christmas.

• If the gift is from Mr, it can fall under the surplus income exemption — plenty of headroom.
• If it’s from Mrs, it won’t qualify — her income doesn’t stretch that far.
• If it’s from a joint account, HMRC will usually say £5,000 each. That means only half could qualify for the exemption.

So what should couples do?

• Keep a record of gifts — who gave what, when, and from which account.
• Be consistent in how you describe “joint” gifts.
• If you’re relying on the surplus income exemption, make sure the paper trail points to the right spouse.

In short: while most couples happily treat money as “ours,” HMRC prefer it as “his and hers.” A bit of careful planning (and record-keeping) stops it becoming a headache — and saves the arguments over whose turn it was to pay anyway!

When there’s no will, the person handling the estate is called the Administrator.
Their job: sort the mess, stay sane, and avoid personal liability.

Step 1: Establish Your Right to Act

Only certain relatives can apply for Letters of Administration — following the same order as the intestacy rules.
If more than one person qualifies, they can apply jointly or nominate one administrator.

Step 2: Identify Who Might Inherit

Build a family tree and confirm relationships with birth and marriage certificates.
Where there are gaps (unknown siblings, long-lost children), you’re expected to make reasonable enquiries.

Step 3: Protect Yourself – Section 27 Notices

Under the Trustee Act 1925, Section 27, administrators can publish a public notice:

• Once in The Gazette (official record).
• Once in a local newspaper.

The notice invites creditors or potential heirs to make claims within two months.
If no one responds, you can safely distribute the estate without personal liability — even if someone emerges later.

Step 4: Use Professionals Where Needed

• Probate genealogists (or “heir hunters”) can confirm the family tree and find missing relatives.
• Missing Beneficiary Insurance covers you if someone later appears with a valid claim.
• Costs come from the estate — not your own pocket.

Step 5: The DNA Curveball

With millions on DNA databases, it’s entirely plausible that an “illegitimate” or previously unknown child appears years later.
If they can legally prove parentage, they have a claim — but if you’ve placed your Section 27 notices and acted reasonably, you’re personally protected.

Step 6: The Practical Checklist

1. Apply for Letters of Administration.
2. Verify the family tree.
3. Publish Section 27 notices.
4. Wait two months.
5. Consider genealogists or insurance for complex estates.
6. Only then, distribute the estate.

Step 7: If You Skip the Steps

Fail to advertise or investigate properly, and you could face a claim years later — with personal liability.
Even worse, you’ll have to explain to your siblings why their inheritance just evaporated.

Being an Administrator isn’t a title anyone wants, but it’s a vital one. Do it properly, and you can sleep at night. Skip the formalities, and you’ll be haunted not by ghosts — but by lawyers.

Back to The Lost Will, the Family Tree and the DNA Test That Changed Everything

When the law divides an estate, it flows down the family tree like water — each generation taking its share, unless that branch has died out, in which case the share trickles down further.

Basic Principle: “Per Stirpes”

If a child of the deceased has already died, their own children inherit that child’s share.

Example:

• Sarah dies, leaving two children: John (alive) and Kate (who died years ago but had two kids, Ben and Lily).
• John gets 50%.
• Ben and Lily each get 25% (Kate’s half, split between them).

Next Layers of the Tree

If there are no children or grandchildren:

• Parents inherit next.
• If they’re gone, the estate moves sideways to siblings.
• If siblings are dead, their children inherit their shares.
  And so it goes — down each line before moving sideways.

Modern Complications

DNA testing is rewriting family trees.
An unknown half-sibling discovered through a home kit could suddenly have a claim, provided they can legally prove parentage.
Intestacy doesn’t care if you’ve never met — bloodline wins.

Example

Arthur dies with no will. He thought he had one daughter, but a DNA test later confirms he has a second child from a long-ago relationship.

Result: both daughters share the estate equally.

The daughter who handled the estate must reopen it and redistribute funds — unless she protected herself properly.

Stepchildren & Partners

They don’t inherit automatically — unless adopted or specifically included in a valid will. A sobering thought for blended families.

Moral

Family trees grow in unpredictable directions. If you want to choose who gets what, write it down while you still can. Otherwise, the law — and possibly a stranger with a DNA kit — will decide for you.

Back to The Lost Will, the Family Tree and the DNA Test That Changed Everything

When there’s no will, the estate is distributed under the Rules of Intestacy — a set of laws last updated by people who clearly hadn’t spent Christmas with your family.

How It Works

The estate passes in a fixed order:

1. Spouse or civil partner
   • If there are no children, they get everything.
   • If there are children:
     • The spouse gets all personal belongings.
     • The first £322,000 of the estate.
     • Half of what’s left.
     • The children share the other half equally.
2. No spouse or civil partner?
   Then it goes to:
   • Children → grandchildren → great-grandchildren (each branch inheriting “per stirpes”).
   • If no descendants: parents → siblings → half-siblings → grandparents → aunts/uncles → half-aunts/uncles.
   • If absolutely nobody qualifies, the estate passes to the Crown as bona vacantia.

Who Gets Nothing

• Unmarried partners (even if you’ve lived together for decades)
• Stepchildren (unless formally adopted)
• Friends, carers, or charities

Real-World Chaos

Imagine David dies leaving his partner of 25 years, Sue. They never married, and his house was in his name. His children from a first marriage inherit everything. Sue, who helped pay the mortgage, gets nothing — except a phone call from the estate agents asking when she’ll be out.

The Administrative Bit

Someone must apply for Letters of Administration — usually the next of kin. They’ll handle all assets, pay debts, and distribute the estate. It’s like being executor, but without the helpful guidance of a will.

Why It Matters

The intestacy rules don’t care what was “promised” or “understood.”
So, the moral is simple: make a will. Even a basic one beats leaving your family to interpret 100-year-old legislation.

Back to The Lost Will, the Family Tree and the DNA Test That Changed Everything

If you think having a will automatically means you’ll avoid family chaos — think again. A will only helps if someone can actually find it. And since there’s no official “will database” in the UK, the search can quickly turn into a legal version of hide-and-seek.

Step 1: The DIY Detective Work

Start simple. Check:

• Any folder, envelope, or safe marked “important.”
• Solicitors, accountants or financial advisers the deceased might have used.
• The bank — some still hold wills, especially older ones.
• Family members — occasionally someone was handed the “safe copy” 20 years ago and forgot.

Step 2: Local Solicitors and Successor Firms

If you can’t find a physical copy, contact local firms in the area where the will was likely made. Even if the original firm has merged or closed, the successor firm usually keeps archived wills.
You can search successor details using the Law Society’s “Find a Solicitor” tool.

Step 3: The National Will Register

If detective work fails, it’s time for technology.
The National Will Register (formerly Certainty) can search for registered wills and contact solicitors to check their archives.

• Basic Will Register Search – £65 (checks registered wills only)
• Will Search Combined – £140 (adds unregistered will searches and firm outreach)

While not every solicitor registers wills, it’s the UK’s largest database and often the quickest route to an answer.

Step 4: Search the Probate Records

If you’re checking after death, search the government’s probate database:
www.gov.uk/search-will-probate
For £1.50, you can download any will that’s already been through probate.

Step 5: When There’s Truly No Sign

If all else fails, you may have to proceed as though there’s no will — known as intestacy.
If you find a copy of a will, you can apply for probate using a “lost will affidavit,” but you’ll need solid evidence of what it said and why the original is missing.

Step 6: Preventing Future Chaos

For everyone still living:

• Register your will (it’s optional, but saves headaches).
• Tell someone you trust where it’s kept.
• Store it properly — not under the dog bed or behind the gin stash.

Because when the time comes, your family doesn’t need a treasure hunt — they need clarity.

Back to The Lost Will, the Family Tree and the DNA Test That Changed Everything

You can’t move these days without tripping over an advert for “Find your ancestors!” or “Discover your Viking roots for just £89.99!” — and thanks to all those home DNA kits, family secrets aren’t quite as secret as they used to be.

So it’s probably no surprise that more and more people are finding themselves caught up in family estate dramas — missing wills, surprise half-siblings, and long-lost cousins who appear just as the house sale completes.

And as accountants, advisers, executors, or just the poor souls left to deal with it all, we’re often the ones asked:

• “Where’s the will?”
• “What happens if there isn’t one?”
• “Are we even allowed to give out the money yet?”

This month, we’re diving into the fascinating (and occasionally chaotic) world of what happens when a person dies without a clear paper trail — or when the will that’s meant to make life easy, well… doesn’t.

Why this matters

People assume that when they die, everything will automatically “sort itself out.”
It doesn’t.

In fact, when there’s no will or a missing will, it’s a legal and emotional minefield — and the people left behind are the ones who have to navigate it.

The three big problems we see over and over again are:

1. Nobody can find the will. It was “done properly years ago,” but nobody knows where it went.
2. There was never a will in the first place.
3. Someone turns up later — often armed with a birth certificate or DNA match — saying, “I think I’m related…”

Each of these situations can completely change who inherits and how, and if you’re the one dealing with the estate, you’re legally responsible for getting it right. (No pressure, then.)

1. When the Will’s Gone Walkabout

The first (and most common) problem. The person definitely made a will. A proper one. With witnesses and everything. But nobody can find it.

Sometimes it’s in a solicitor’s strongroom, sometimes in a bank safe, and sometimes in the biscuit tin marked “old receipts and things to keep.”

Occasionally it was never registered anywhere — because wills don’t have to be — so it becomes a guessing game of which firm wrote it 25 years ago and whether that firm still exists

Click here for our deeper dive into “The Case of the Missing Will” — how to trace one, who to contact, and how to avoid a family version of The Crystal Maze.

2. When There Was Never a Will

If there’s no will, the law steps in with its own version of “fairness” — a set of rules written by people who clearly never met your family.

Spouses, children, parents, siblings… there’s a strict pecking order, and unmarried partners don’t even make the list.

This can lead to some fairly brutal real-world results — like the partner of 20 years being told to pack up and move out because the house wasn’t in their name.

If you die without a will, the law steps in with its own plan — and spoiler alert: it’s not always what you’d want. Unmarried partners? Out. Stepchildren? Ignored. Exes? Occasionally back in the mix. Welcome to the Rules of Intestacy — a system that proves life after death can still be complicated.

Click here for “When There’s No Will: The Great British Guessing Game” — our guide to what really happens under the Rules of Intestacy.

3. The Trickle-Down Test

When the law starts dividing an estate, it doesn’t hand out cheques at random — it works down a family tree like water running downhill.

If a child has died, their share trickles down to their own children, and so on. That’s straightforward until you realise how many branches of the family might exist — especially now that “23andMe” is outing surprise relatives faster than Christmas arguments do.

Inheritance under intestacy sounds simple: it goes “to the next of kin.” But who’s that, exactly? And what happens when DNA databases start turning up half-siblings nobody knew about? Welcome to the trickle-down effect — where the law decides who inherits, and Ancestry.com provides the plot twists.

Click here for “The Trickle-Down Explained” — a plain-English guide to how the inheritance hierarchy really works, with examples that won’t make your head spin.

4. When You’re the One Left Sorting It Out

If you’re the poor relative who’s just discovered you’re responsible for “sorting the estate,” congratulations — you’ve inherited paperwork, stress, and potential liability.

Without a will, you’ll need to apply for Letters of Administration, make reasonable enquiries to find all possible heirs, and (most importantly) protect yourself in case someone pops up years later claiming a share.

That protection usually means:

• Publishing Section 27 Notices in The Gazette and local paper,
• Possibly using a genealogist or “heir hunter” to map out the family tree,
• And, for bigger estates, taking out Missing Beneficiary Insurance — just in case an unexpected DNA match comes knocking.

Click here for “The Administrator’s Survival Guide” — what to do, what to avoid, and how not to end up personally footing the bill if Cousin Kevin turns up five years later.

A Final Thought

For something so certain, death causes an awful lot of uncertainty.
And as DNA testing becomes dinner-table conversation, the odds of long-lost relatives appearing after the event are only going up.

So if you’ve got elderly parents with “a will somewhere,” or your own documents stashed in a drawer marked “to sort later,” maybe it’s time to sort it now — while you can still remember which drawer it’s in.

Because dying without a plan doesn’t just leave a mess; it leaves an audience.

HMRC’s digital blitz is catching sloppy expense claims—get “wholly & exclusively” right, split mixed-use costs, keep records… or expect a costly nudge.

⚠️ Quick Heads-Up: HMRC’s new digital crackdown pulled in £27m last year by catching dodgy expense claims. They’re now going after sole traders, partners, and landlords who:

• Claim personal costs as business expenses
• Forget to split mixed-use costs properly
• Think “wholly and exclusively” is just a vague suggestion

Keep solid records, be consistent, and check before you claim — or risk a friendly letter from HMRC (and by “friendly” we mean “costly”).

Apparently, HMRC has decided to roll out a shiny new digital campaign after a trial last year netted them a casual £27 million. Yes, £27 million — presumably enough to fund at least three new IT systems that won’t work.

The trial revealed what they politely call “disallowable private use in business expenditure.” Translation: people claiming for things that weren’t entirely business-related. Think “conference in Marbella” that suspiciously coincided with your niece’s wedding, or claiming the cost of a new sofa because you once read emails on it.

Now, HMRC says it’s going to be opening more enquiries into sole traders, partners, and landlords to check that only genuine business expenses are claimed — and that any mixed-use costs are correctly split between business and personal use. This applies to the 2024/25 tax return you’ll be filing and, if they find anything questionable, earlier years too.

The Rules (a.k.a. What HMRC Will Throw at You)

Expenses have to be “wholly and exclusively” for business purposes to be allowed. Sounds simple enough, but as ever with HMRC, there’s a bit more to it:

• If part of a cost is genuinely for business, you can claim that part — but you’ll need records to back it up (e.g., mileage logs, not vague memories of “loads of meetings”).
• You’ve got to apply the same apportionment method each year (no creative accounting just because your new car drinks more petrol).
• If the cost is capital in nature (i.e., buying or improving something rather than just maintaining it), it’s not deductible — but you may be able to claim capital allowances instead.
• Capital allowances also have to be reduced for private use. So if your van doubles as a weekend camper for Glastonbury, expect an adjustment.
• Repairs to your premises? Fine — unless it’s actually an upgrade, in which case HMRC will want to have a word.

There is a “simplified expenses” option for vehicles, use of home, and private use of business premises — handy if you’d like to avoid the faff of receipts and spreadsheets.

Usual Suspects for Private Use Adjustments

Here are the areas where people most often fall foul:

• Travel & Subsistence: Your everyday lunch isn’t deductible just because you ate it at your desk. Meals and accommodation are allowable for certain travelling trades or when you’re working away from your normal base.
• Vehicle Costs: Driving from home to your regular place of work is not business travel. HMRC calls it “ordinary commuting,” we call it “rush hour hell.”
• Use of Home: Claims are usually based on the number of rooms or floor space used for business. Your kitchen doesn’t count just because you had a Zoom meeting while making tea.
• Entertaining: Generally, no. Not even if you bought the good biscuits.
• Training Costs: Refresher and CPD courses are fine, but learning an entirely new skill or qualification is a no-go. In HMRC’s eyes, that’s personal benefit, not a business cost.

Our Advice

When in doubt, assume HMRC will ask you to prove it — and that their idea of proof is more than “but my mate Dave says it’s fine.” Keep records, be consistent, and don’t assume that “everyone else does it” will hold up in an enquiry.

If you’re not sure whether an expense will pass the “wholly and exclusively” test, ask us. It’s much easier (and cheaper) to fix things before you submit a return than after HMRC has taken an interest.

Back to You are not Immortal – a practical guide to a delicate topic – IHT

If it asks for money, passwords or your authentication code, it’s a scam — here’s what to do.

Scam emails, calls and letters pretending to be from Companies House are on the rise. They look convincing — logos, reference numbers, “urgent” language — but there are some easy tells and simple steps to keep your business safe.

Top red flags (real examples doing the rounds):

• Phone calls asking for: passwords, bank details, your authentication code, directors’ full dates of birth, or £5 to “put a hold on a late filing penalty.”
• Callers claiming to be from the “registration department” (it doesn’t exist) or from Companies House in Cardiff demanding immediate payment.
• Emails asking you to click links/attachments to: “verify identity (KYC/KYB)”, “avoid legal action”, “view an online filing rejection”, “download via e-Sign”, or “WebFiling account issues” (often from odd domains).
• Fake sender domains (not .gov.uk), e.g. @companies-house-gov.uk, @cpgov.uk, @companieshousel.ink, etc.
• Letters with QR codes or payment instructions for things like “Company Registration”, “Enhanced Web Filing Access”, “COHOREG” or requests from supposed prosecuting solicitors.

How to handle a suspicious contact (the quick script):

1. Stop. Don’t share info, don’t click links, don’t open attachments, don’t scan QR codes.
2. Check. Real emails come from .gov.uk. Hover links before clicking; if the URL looks off, bin it.
3. Verify. Ask for a callback number, then contact Companies House directly on 0303 1234 500.
4. Report. Forward dodgy emails to phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk and then delete them (including from “Deleted Items”).
5. Never pay fees from letters/emails unless you’ve independently confirmed on the official site.

Bookmark the official guidance (with live examples):

Reporting scams pretending to be from Companies House

Good hygiene going forward:

• Companies House will never ask for your authentication code or immediate payment by phone.
• Treat unexpected “complaints”, “identity checks” or “account problems” as suspicious until proven otherwise.
• Keep registered email inboxes monitored so genuine reminders don’t get missed among the noise.

Back to You are not Immortal – a practical guide to a delicate topic – IHT